Week 9: Patrick Ethridge

Remember when you were younger and your parents would tell you something and you "knew" they were wrong?

Don’t lean back in the chair or you’ll fall over, don’t drive too fast or you’ll get a ticket, don’t eat that ice cream too fast or you’ll get brain freeze…

Many of us had to find out the hard way that they were telling us the truth.

I find myself having the same feeling with our trainer, Bryan Seibel.

Last week Bryan enacted strict sugar restrictions in our nutrition plan. It was hard to follow and I didn’t want to accept that he had a reason for this latest change. One week later I’ve lost 7 pounds thanks to his plan and must begrudgingly accept that he was right all along.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have his guidance, but sugar tastes good.

You might think we’d be excited that Fitness Challenge is nearing completion. In reality, it’s nothing I’m ready to celebrate. The challenge has helped give me a jump start on what will be a long journey, and having Bryan looking over our shoulder is like a safety net as we cross a high wire.

And since I started with the circus reference, it’s worth mentioning that in addition to safety net, Bryan also doubles as a clown on occasion.

Courtney and I can be side-by-side on the treadmills near the point of exhaustion in absolutely no mood to laugh and we’ll look up to see Bryan holding an inspirational sign he wrote on a marker board. And every week he prints out our food charts and marks them with smiley faces, sad faces or even crazy faces in some instances.

We have grown to fear that yellow highlighter every week on the food charts. I guess that’s a good thing.